Claws of the Phoenix
by AdamineTerra
Summary: It's the Grand Magic Games in the Kingdom of Lancet. When Kings Isaac and Toma decide to open the games up in both countries, Lancet's own problems surge up to the fore. With murders happening in the night and mages being kidnapped how will King Isaac's regent keep the games running smooth and protect the foreign guild at the same time? Book Six in my Mages of Lancet Series
1. Mermaid Heel

**For Book Six in my Mages of Lancet Series, I'm going to try something different. I'm planning on making longer chapters with better detail. Since all of my other chapters felt lacking to me, I'm hoping this story won't do the same. For those of you who read my stuff already, tell me if you like this format better. I may change it for my others.**

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Mermaid Heel

His muscles relaxed and tightened as the artist pressed the needle down on his arm. This pleasure/pain was something that Hollis reveled in as his back leaned in the leather chair. To him the sting of a needle into his arm was pure relaxation, and Hollis refused to let anyone touch his flesh with a magic needle. No, all of Hollis's tattoos were hand tapped into his skin.

The largest tattoo on his body, a phoenix that he could summon the same as the rest of his tattoos, stretched from his arm to span across his back. The tattoo finally ended with its tail feathers wrapping around his hip. That had been given to him when he was but a child growing up under the control of a slave master. His father had taught him the power of tattoo magic, and thanks to that magic Hollis was now a free man. There was nothing better.

Pressing the needle into his skin, the tattoo artist tapped the Nemean Lion permanently on his flesh. Much like a Celestial Spirit mage, a Tattoo Summoner had contracts with the creatures put down on their skin, but unlike a Celestial Spirit mage Tattoo Summoners had to earn the creatures that were placed on their bodies. One couldn't just get any old tattoo and summon it. One had to be able to take the creature down in their world.

Only recently did Hollis enter the world of the Nemean Lion, and only recently did Hollis beat the feline down like Hercules himself. He was quite proud of himself to say the truth. It wasn't every day that a spirit from mythology demanded your presence in their realm. Even so, Hollis would have to form a contract with the myth. Just because he was inked didn't mean that he wanted to show up.

"If you keep getting powerful like this, your body will look like your father's," the tattoo artist explained with a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Her name was Mariah Lyn, and she'd been inking both Oryan and Hollis Flight for years. Her age was unknown, but Hollis knew the woman had been working on his father's body since he was in his teens.

Hollis cracked a grin back at the woman. He explained, "With the Nemean Lion on my arm, I'm planning on making a sleeve run down to the tips of my fingers." A sleeve much like his father's.

Oryan Flight was a man covered in tattoos, but like his son the phoenix was his primary tattoo. Other than the phoenix which had been passed down from father to son for ages, Oryan's body was coated in powerful myths. He had a full sleeve that ran from shoulder to fingertip and a quarter sleeve on his left arm. With his usual clothing on no one could see the beasts sealed within, but as soon as Oryan lifted up his shirt sleeves everyone saw the many myths he had contained.

"Aspirations like that will get you killed," Mariah warned with a grin. Ah, yes. That was the comment Hollis had been waiting for. Mariah always explained the strain on a Tattoo Summoner's body when he used many myth spirits at the same time. At first the warning had annoyed him, but now Hollis paid it little mind.

The needle bit down inside Hollis's skin, and he scowled at the woman who was trying to get his attention. Deciding that she wanted him to confirm her statement, Hollis grumbled, "Yeah. Yeah. I get it, mom."

Mariah wasn't Hollis's mom, but she had wound up filling that void when she designated herself as his ink smith. Since Hollis's mother had died in the bloody crossfire of typical Norman, humans who couldn't use magic, versus Mage battle, Hollis had unwittingly seized on Mariah to fill the motherless void his heart refused to accept.

His mind decided to wander at that moment.

So much had changed since those days. Normans were no longer in power over the Kingdom of Lancet. The runaway princess of Lancet that he'd been forced to kidnap had wound up bringing in the force of every mage guild in Fiore. A bloody battle without casualties had placed her cousin on the throne after she'd refused to take her spot as the singular governmental head. The most astounding part? Hollis had been placed as the king's regent despite having kidnaped Princess Adamine in the first place, and it was all because he'd challenged his master over a woman who had given him a conscience. It was a real shame that Princess Adamine Terra had wound up with the hots over a Seith Mage in the guild Fairy Tail. Hollis had wound up developing a slight crush on her. Then again, what man in his right mind didn't—at some point in time—fall for her crazy personality.

Princess Adamine Terra wasn't the sweet, innocent princess depicted in fairy tales. She'd been kidnapped at age five, forced to live amongst people set on sacrificing her to a dragon, and then the psychopathic woman wound up befriending the dragon supposed to devour her. Yes. Adamine Terra was not your average princess.

He cracked a grin at the thought of her. Adamine… she was wild. She was the reason that Lancet and Fiore had joined forces to create something called the Winter Grand Magic Games. It was a new tradition that Kings Isaac and Toma were hoping would get Normans to stop enslaving and selling mages on the Black Market. After Fiore and Lancet had a Grand Magic Games set in the summer, the two would come together and create one for winter. This Grand Magic Games would show off one guild at the top in two kingdoms.

Speaking of, Hollis would be over two guilds while he was working the Grand Magic Games. One of those guilds was Mermaid Heel. They had come in a top spot in Fiore's Grand Magic Games. Apparently, they made for an impressive adversary, but something about a guild full of women didn't settle well with Hollis. At least half of those woman had to be gay. The thought of a guild full of chicks just screamed homosexuality to him. It made sense. You know. If that was all you saw, that was what you fell for.

Some guys like the Gatekeeper of Lancet, Colin Rydel, was happy to know that Isaac's Royal Guard was going to be lodging with that guild, but Hollis wasn't so certain that a bunch of chicks clustered around him was appealing.

Shaking his head, Hollis withdrew a cigarette from his pocket. "Mind if I light up?" he asked even though he knew the answer.

"You have to know how bad that habit is," Mariah sighed. This was another one of their usual controversies. Too many tattoos. Too much smoking. Mariah Lyn must have lived in a glass house because if you spoke to her she wouldn't seem to have any flaws.

Hollis countered, "To the average person. My body absorbs the ash thanks to Cinder like how I'll be able to eat raw meat thanks to the Nemean Lion. And before you mention the tar, I already have a tattoo for that." That tattoo was the naked, female siren he had tattooed like your average pin up girl. No siren could sing if her lungs were caked in tar.

Mariah slowly shook her head at him. She leaned back to stretch at the same time that the kingdom's general, a former slave himself, stepped through the doors of the tattoo parlor. To say that Felix Eisenberg was a large male would be a vast understatement. The former berserker for hire turned Lancet General was freaking massive.

His six and a half foot frame filled up the entrance to the parlor. He was so broad that he had to shift and turn through the doorway. Years of slave labor, living in the wild, and working as a sword for hire had turned the man into one solid block of muscle. If someone kicked him, they would probably wind up more hurting his foot than hurting Felix's shins.

Not only was the man huge, but his sword was a beast. The zweihӓnder, literally meaning two hander, was just as thick and long as its master. From point to pommel the sword had to have been around six feet long. It was the same height as Hollis when he was standing, and if that wasn't scary enough, you had balls of steel. The freaking blade had given Hollis nightmares when the two of them had first met. Also, freaking Felix could toss the heavy blade from one hand to the other, even swing with it. Damned behemoth.

Even so, Hollis cracked a grin at the sight of his comrade. "Well, if it isn't the _Meister des langen Schwertes _himself. Looking to get yourself some ink?" His chin nodded in the direction of Mariah. The woman cast Felix an easy grin and bowed her head in recognition of the male whose power in the government was to crack skulls without taking names. It sucked that the woman didn't open her mouth, but that was just how Lancet culture had been so long. When in the presence of a strange man, most women refused to speak. One would think that since King Isaac was on the throne that would change. It had. Just not enough. _Old habits die hard,_ Hollis assumed.

Felix grinned, stretching the scars that ran down his lips and to his collarbone from some battle he'd lived through. "My brother, you know that my clan would disown me if I got ink put into my skin. The best body markings are those earned in battle. Eh?"

"Not if your magic is based in ink," Hollis replied and took a drag of his cigarette. Unlike the average, harsh scent of tobacco, Hollis's cigarettes burned a sweet scent. That was the only reason he was permitted to smoke indoors. His clothes all smelt like mint. "If you don't want any tats, then you must be looking for me." He arched a crimson brow.

"Indeed. Mermaid Heel's ship is arriving in the port. Isaac sent me to collect you since he won't be able to meet them at the docks. Last night Katja and Sven found a suspicious person lurking in the city past curfew. He is questioning the man at the moment, but they haven't gotten a word out of him," Felix explained, referencing the murders that had been picking up now that Lancet Normans had heard that mages were being given another right in the country.

For some reason normal humans were extremely opposed to allowing mages equal rights. Their words were coated over in innuendo, and they cursed the fact that mages held the most powerful seats in the kingdom. They said something about how mages were suppressing them. When in reality, they were just taking their rightful spot alongside Normans instead of beneath them. If mages were truly suppressing humans, then Hollis would have Norman slaves and the woman tattooing his arm wouldn't be getting a three hundred coin payment for the ink she was putting in his skin.

Despite that fact, Norman Slavers were irate that they couldn't sell their mage slaves publicly. Murders and kidnappings were on the rise. Hollis had been afraid that the Winter Games weren't going to happen when two Normans—who still have yet to be captured—laid two dead members of the guild Grimm out on the statues of Thor and Lady Sif in the city's fountain. It had been a warning for Isaac to call off the games. Well, the king hadn't called them off.

Thanks to that the members of the Royal Guard were being assigned to look after the guilds coming in from Fiore. Security was top notch at the moment, and a curfew had been passed that no one other than the king, his guard, and the Magician's Alliance, a Lancet police force of mages and Normans, was to be out after midnight.

Hollis, since he was Isaac's sidekick or regent, was to look after Mermaid Heel. Why? Because the king was currently, as Felix would say, courting a certain Ms. Kagura Mikazuchi. After an incident earlier this year, Isaac had wound up with a case of amnesia that had nearly destroyed the kingdom. Thankfully, Isaac had gotten his memory fixed and after he'd gotten his ass majorly owned in an earth shattering battle a good angel came and revived him. But... that was all in the details. When push came to shove, Isaac and Kagura wound up locking lips in the hospital as the angel named Sirenia watched over his healing process. Oh, and did Hollis forget to mention that said angel was also the master of Mermaid Heel? Oh, he did forget! Well, yeah. Sirenia was the master of Mermaid Heel.

Mariah leaned back from Hollis's arm. She quietly explained, "You're good to go." Never lifting her eyes up to the strange male in the room, Mariah gave Hollis a grin. "Good luck." Ah. Mariah was proud of him.

Hollis cupped his would-be mother under the chin and forced her to look up. "You can say that louder. You know. You aren't going to be punished for speaking aloud anymore."

Moisture caused her eyes to glitter. With slight reluctance she admitted, "You know what they say. Old habits die hard."

Hollis kissed his mother on the cheek before slapping three hundred coin into her palm. "I'll see you next time I defeat another myth. Alright." Deciding to add in something she always told him after giving him money, Hollis added, "Don't spend all of that in one place."

He rose up from the leather seat and admired her handiwork. Mariah always did wonderful work, but she had truly outdone herself. Each work was better than the last. Hollis could practically see the Nemean Lion tearing out of his skin where its claws looked to be shredding lengths of muscle.

Without any time to lose Hollis slapped Felix on his massive back. "You going to help me take care of the girls?" he asked.

Hollis had never seen Felix amongst many women before. Those that he did approach he treated with the upmost respect. In his clan from High Lancet, women were a true commodity. They were highly revered and respected since they were the ones to bear the children in the cold, rough terrain of High Lancet. Still, Hollis wondered what Felix would be like if he ever met someone he was attracted to. The man had never seemed even the slightest bit attracted to any of the women he'd met in Capital Lance. Sure, he was nice, but he never called for anyone despite how many women admired his tall, broad form. As a matter of fact, Felix never even ogled a woman's cleavage like his usual partner, Colin did. Hollis knew the man was straight, but what would it take to get Felix interested in a woman?

Felix gave a grunt of laughter. It rumbled in his expansive chest. "You aren't trying to hook me up like Katja does. Are you?"

Hollis feigned a look of betrayal. "Me? Why, I would never think of doing something like that to you! I can't believe that you would think such a thing!" Hollis's grin widened. "Because I wouldn't try. Felix, I would succeed."

The big male shook his head. "There are times when you and the others make me feel as though I'm much older than my mid-twenties."

Hollis shrugged. "Must be something about your berserkertude."

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"So this is Capital Lance," Millianna breathed. Her lips parted in awe at the stark difference between what she was told about the capital and what it was in person. Millianna had expected to see a large stage where slavers would be selling mages. She also expected there to be heinous, wicked looking people walking around.

Although the capital was rather cold, it wasn't because of the people. Large buildings were made of heavy timber or weighty stone. Gambrel roofs abounded instead of the typical gable roofs in Fiore. People of Lancet appeared to enjoy building in warm tones to belie the cold weather outside, cold weather that caused her to change clothes as soon as their ship had entered the high north where the Kingdom of Lancet rested.

Millianna wandered throughout the streets and admired the many fans that crowded the streets. She saw guild signs from Fiore and some unfamiliar ones from Lancet. The only Lancet guild she recognized was the crossing tribal scythes that was the guild mark of Kindred Spirit, a guild she'd met the first time Millianna had come here.

The first time that Millianna had been here hadn't been on a social visit. It had been on a Hundred Year Mission where guilds from all across Fiore had come to liberate the kingdom Lancet from Norman tyranny. That time Millianna and the rest of Mermaid Heel had been called in to destroy a wall that divided Royal Lancet from Common Lancet. It had been awesome.

Now that she was actually able to see the kingdom, she was hyper. Happily, she bopped from place to place. Millianna peered inside a shop to check out its wares, she signed autographs from mage and Norman admirers, and she checked out Lancet clothing.

"Isaac said that he was going to meet us at the dock," Kagura mentioned from somewhere behind Millianna. Her hand rested calmly atop the hilt of her blade, but she was glancing about the port. Her hazel eyes searched around for her lover, but if anyone called her out on the fact that she was worried, Millianna knew she would immediately deny it.

Even so, Millianna couldn't stop the grin creeping up her face. Kagura and Isaac were adorable for each other. Neither one would admit how much they liked each other, but it was so blindingly obvious to everyone else. Millianna adored teasing Kagura about it.

Araña explained, "He's the king of an entire country. I'd bet that something happened, and he couldn't come. We should have just waited for someone to show up to escort us. I mean. Do you even know where you're going?"

The shade of pink that Kagura turned at her irrational behavior would forever be burned in Millianna's mind. Her grin merely widened.

Coughing into her hand, Kagura explained, "If that was the case, Isaac would have sent one of his shades out to meet us."

Ah. Yes. King Isaac's shades. They were interesting little creatures that came out of his shadow. King Isaac could send them out to a shadow of choice, and as soon as it connected to that shadow, it would relay a message telepathically to the chosen person.

Risley added, "Not if he didn't know we were in the port yet. Sirenia turned in our paperwork to let us in, but if Isaac was busy, he might not have been told we were here. We should go back to the docks and wait."

Kagura shook her head. If the woman was one thing, it was stubborn. "No. Something's wrong. I just know that he would have sent out one of his shades to find us."

Again, Millianna's smile got larger. Ever since Kagura and Isaac got together, Kagura had become extremely protective over him. He had nearly died in a battle last year. Ever since that day, Kagura had been keeping tabs on him. Worrying about him like a mother hen would. Again, so darned adorable.

While Risley, Araña, and Kagura bantered behind her, Millianna kept up her adventurous pursuit of all things Lancet. The culture was interesting. It intrigued her. She leaped over a railing with feline grace before landing atop a fountain where two Lancet gods resided in the center. The God of Thunder, Thor and his wife stood in the middle of the fountain and water pooled around their feet before running into four streams that split the central court of Capital Lance.

She leaned over in the fountain and swiped at one of the large fish swimming within. Her flat claws skimmed the smooth skin of a catfish before she caught sight of something in her reflection.

Tuning her ears in, she eavesdropped on the two familiar faces. "Where the bloody hell could they have gone," the red head hissed. He had golden eyes like a cat in the night. On one of his arms was a siren tattoo, and on the other was the sight of feathers. With just the sight of those feathers, Millianna knew who she was looking out.

They were the old members of something called Exile, a branch of mages that were sent by Normans to collect and murder mages. Now, though, they had turned over a new leaf. After being pardoned by King Isaac, they had received high standings in the kingdom of Lancet.

If Millianna wasn't mistaken, Hollis was regent, but she didn't know the big guy standing with him. Her chocolate eyes narrowed. The guy was… huge. He had shoulders broader than Kagura and Millianna combined. Not only was he broad, but he was tall. He looked like a blonde headed bear walking with the Crimson Phoenix. So, if Hollis was the Crimson Phoenix and if Katja and Sven were Poisoneva and Poisonidan and then if Colin was the Dark Haze that meant that this guy was the Heavy Metal Soldier.

Well, they were most definitely right on the heavy part, but Millianna didn't see much metal on the blonde haired and blue eyed bear. He was wearing a red robe that wrapped around his throat before falling to cover his left arm. The only metal she caught sight of was a metal guard that covered his right shoulder.

When the blonde spoke up, his voice was deep and manly, perfect for a bear like him. "They may have wondered where their escorts were and went to go find them. I told Isaac that you wouldn't make it in time because you were getting new ink."

"Oi! Don't blame it on the tattoos. Those babies take time if you want them to look right. Just check out how good this ink looks." Hollis twisted around to flaunt a kitty on her shoulder. Immediately, Millianna's interest was piqued.

Hollis was a Tattoo Summoner. If he had a lion on his arm that meant that he could summon it. Perking up, Millianna glanced back to Kagura staring at a directory. They had been set up sporadically just for the mages of Fiore to be able to get around during the Winter Games. After looking at them, her eyes went to where Hollis and the Heavy Metal Soldier were walking off in the opposite direction. Millianna could go get them for the girls. That way she could get a good look at that tattoo on Hollis's arm. It was beautiful, and she wanted to see if he would let her see it.

Deciding that was the best way to go, Millianna hopped off the fountain. She could just imagine the sighs resounding from the fish in the fountain that she'd been harassing as she dashed off in the direction of Hollis.

Her body maneuvered through thick crowds of fangirls. She bopped through vendors selling guild trinkets, and after shoving her body between a group of tightly packed tourists, her foot decided it felt like grabbing onto the edge of the cobblestone pathway. With her arms flailing like a fish out of water, Millianna tumbled headlong towards the stones.

Hollis blinked once. Then, he blinked twice. He had to blink about three or four more times while he wondered just how the hell he'd wound up holding a girl by her shoulders. One minute he'd been strolling about looking for the members of Mermaid Heel, the next minute some chick had come flying at him like a torpedo set for detonation.

As he blinked at the girl, he said the only words that could come to his lips. "Uh. Miss, I think you just fell for me," he stated without thinking.

Beside him his cloaked companion snickered, "Smooth lines, my brother."

Hollis cut him a smirking glare as he watched the woman lift herself up. Her hood fell from her face, and Hollis blinked at not only her feline features but her scantily clad outfit. This female was dressed like she was about to be tied at the whipping post not like she was about to go strolling through the streets of thirty degrees Fahrenheit Lance. Had he not known foreigners were perusing the country, he might have thought she belonged on a street corner.

Even so, he checked her body for a guild mark. This could have been someone from Mermaid Heel. He'd met many of them when they'd taken down the wall then went to King Isaac's crowning ceremony. His eyes perused her form blatantly, and when he didn't find anything, he merely pulled the woman straight.

"Ah-ha! Sorry about that. My foot decided that rock looked nice enough to get friendly with. Are you okay?" she laughed out. Her pale hand shot to ruffle her brown hair around, and she gazed up at Hollis with big, feline eyes.

"I'm fine. You must be a foreigner in Lancet?" Hollis asked, getting straight to the point. Hollis had lost the Mermaid Heel girls. He knew them by the paperwork Felix had given him on the women, but he had yet to see any of their images. Hopefully, this girl was one of them even though he didn't see a mark on her front. With how much skin she was showing, he was amazed he hadn't seen it. How the hell was she not cold?

The strange, cat girl nodded her head feverishly. "Ei-yup! Millianna from Mermaid Heel at your service, Mr. Crimson Phoenix!" she chimed. Her hand moved up to her forehead in mock salute.

Crimson… Phoenix… Gods, no one had addressed him like that in years. His entire body jerked to press his hand against her mouth, and while people turned their heads at the name of such a vaunted demon, Hollis laughed nervously. "Ha! Ha! Yeah, crimson feathers. Yup! Yup! That's the color of a hawk. Right you are, Millianna." Eyes scanned his form carefully. They looked at his covered arms, checking for the tattoo of Cinder on his body. The girl may not have known it, but Hollis wasn't exactly well loved by Normans or mages. He'd been forced to murder both when he was Gatlin's slave.

Hollis elbowed a snickering Felix in the ribs and jerked his head towards a thicker crowd. With his hand clamped down and muffling Millianna's protests, he hissed, "Come on, man. I don't wanna start a freaking mob because of my name."

The Heavy Metal Soldier bowed his head and moved to shield both of their bodies with his. As soon as they were away from the prying eyes and ears of everyone that had heard her exclamation, Hollis leaned towards Millianna's ear. To be discreet he held her like he would a lover.

Arms that had been locked like vice grips smoothed down, and he cupped her chin to pull her mouth towards his. With his lips at her ear he whispered, "You can't shout our Exile names out. We're not exactly loved for our old aliases."

She gave a nod, and as soon as he released her cat claws came running down his face. Blood welled up from the random attack, and Felix's quieted laughter rumbled around him. "The hell?" he hissed out, pulling his teeth back to reveal fangs grown thanks to his Nemean Lion.

"I don't appreciate you man handling me. It's not spiffy," she explained, retracting her red nails.

"Not spiffy," he growled. Pulling his arm back like he was ready to brawl, Hollis added, "Baby, I can show you spiffy." He was going to make a move for her, but Felix put his hand out. Against that unmoving statue, Hollis might as well have been manacled.

"Please excuse, Hollis. He was worried you would start a mob. There is a reason we no longer go by our aliases," Felix explained. He pressed his hand to his chest and gave a bow of his head. "My name is Felix Eisenberg. I, too, am a member of Isaac's Royal Guard. We'll hopefully be combatants in Thor's Field."

"Thor's…"

With his mouth still in a grimace, Hollis explained, "Thor's Field. It's the arena we'll be fighting in. So, do you know where the rest of your group is?" His eyes scanned around, but unlike Felix who had taken the time to research the profiles given to him by King Isaac, Hollis had no clue what anyone looked like. All he saw was nameless face after nameless face.

Millianna turned her head around, causing her mane of choppily cut chocolate hair to wave over her back. She looked to be scanning around. After a moment, her hand shot out to point to a group of women. One was studying the directory like it held all of life's greatest secrets, and the other two looked to be calling for someone. With so many bodies jam packed into the capital, Hollis wished them luck. "There! That's them!"

Felix straightened his back and caught sight of the group at the directory. His large hand came down on Hollis's back, pushing the male forward just a bit. "Ah. Lovely. Let's go meet the other ladies of Mermaid Heel. Shall we, my brother?"

Hollis growled at Felix's jesting. The man knew Millianna had gotten under his skin with that cheap shot earlier. If there was one thing Hollis hated, it was being caught off guard. Made him more defensive and angry than anything else did. He snarled, "Sure. Fine. Can't believe we gotta bunk with them in the Icere Lodge. Damn Isaac and his bloody girlfriend."


	2. Tour

**Well, the USB never got recovered, but the story did. I'll hopefully be posting more now. Thank you for those who've been reading. I greatly appreciate that, and for your patience with me. I need some assistance with upcoming chapters. If any of you have ideas, I would love to hear them. PM me or review this story with your suggestions.**

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Tour

Placing his massive hand on Hollis's shoulder, Felix steered the Crimson Phoenix through the square. "I think we just found your match," the man teased, shifting blue eyes from Hollis to Millianna.

"You're cute, Felix. Real cute. I can't wait for the day I get to see you actually attracted to a woman," Hollis cut back, looking to Millianna as well. She was happily prancing about in that scantily clad outfit of hers. The only thing keeping anything covered was the robe around her body. The front was on complete display in this cold region. All he could think about was finding her a damned coat. All that skin was drawing attention to her.

A heavy hand tightened on Hollis's shoulder, and the soldier explained, "Modern women bare too much skin for me nowadays. There's nothing left for the imagination. To see a woman wrapped in fur then revealed in lace. That's what I desire in my woman. Good luck finding any of those in this age though."

Instead of saying a word, Hollis just blew out a breath of hot air. As soon as Millianna darted in front of him to admire winter flowers that were on display, he snatched her by the collar around her throat. A gurgling came from her lips before he hauled her to him. "Clothes," he barked, tossing his bomber jacket at her.

"This is what I normally wear!" Millianna pouted, gesturing to all that was Millianna's clothes. Barely anything. "Why? Does it bother you?"

"Not in the slightest, babe, but mages are being targeted at the moment. The less people that know you're foreign to Lancet, the less people that will want to murder you," he explained. Hands held the jacket open, and when she huffed into it, he zipped up the front for her. "Promise me that you won't attract more attention to yourself?"

Even as he had her wrapped up in his jacket, Hollis couldn't help the grin wanting to tease the corner of his lips. He jacket drowned her. The fur lining of the interior wrapped around her throat, and the bottom of the jacket was down over her hips. Not to mention that the sleeves flopped uselessly on either side of her.

Millianna scowled at him, more playful than anything. With just that flirty appearance Hollis was pretty sure he knew why birds ran from cats. One never knew whether it was sleeping or ready to pounce.

Shaking his head at her, he explained, "When you're in Lancet, you will wear something to cover your legs and torso. Understood?"

"But this makes me feel spiffy," she pouted, spinning around to give Hollis a rather stunning view of her backside. Even in his bomber jacket, which was way too big for her, he could still see the cleft of her ass. A very well rounded derriere it was. He could see the appeal of flaunting it. Quite spiffy.

Running a hand down his face, Hollis reminded, "Mages are targeted for anything, Millianna. The less you dress like you're from here, the more likely you are to get hurt. Sirenia signed the contract giving us jurisdiction over you. This should be viewed as law." But, gods, how was he going to deal with flashes of her perfect body dancing around when they were in Thor's Field or during escorts? If they were to battle against one another? Suddenly, Hollis was hoping for the traditional Lancet custom of mud wrestling. Then, he scowled at the direction of his thoughts.

This woman was not Adamine. She did not hold her shoulders as proudly. Her body was not encased in rockabilly and camo fashion. This woman didn't command a room like Adamine did, and the princess of Lancet was the bar Hollis held for all women. It was only right because the princess was the first woman that had made Hollis feel guilty over his dark ways.

Millianna could never compare to the Demigoddess of Lione. No woman could in Hollis's eyes. He believed the princess to be imperfection perfected.

Kagura's sudden outburst had Hollis pulled from his thoughts, literally, when the woman yanked him up by his vest. "Where is Isaac? Has something happened to him?" Kagura barked.

Gold eyes flashed wide, and Hollis opened his mouth to speak. "A mysterious man was found, and Isaac was questioning him. He said that he would meet us at the lodge," he explained, rearing back from Kagura's nearness.

Her hazel eyes bored holes into his skull for a second longer until she released him. Running a hand through her hair, she adjusted herself. "I see. As long as he's safe, of course," Kagura stated like she didn't just go Over Protective Girlfriend all over the place.

For a second Felix and Hollis shared a look. It read, _How the hell are we supposed to live with these women during the games?_ The worst fact was Colin was going to be with them. Then, there was also the issue of Katja. Kat hated women. The only woman she even remained in the presence of happened to be the princess because Adam had beaten Katja in a battle. Ever since, Kat had been trying to mirror the six pack abs of Adamine's muscular form. That princess had become an inspiration for all of the former Exile mages.

And, all of Exile couldn't wait for her to get here.

Felix shifted in his spot. The leather of his armor creaked at the same time that his zweihӓnder barked, "Are we gonna introduce ourselves or just stand here in the road looking like a bunch of idiots?"

"Who said that?" Millianna piped up from the sound of a feminine voice appearing out of nowhere.

The scowl Felix directed at his sword was enough for Hollis to crack a grin. In a few seconds, the blade strapped against his back stated, "I did. The old man wasn't introducing me, so I thought I'd do it myself."

"Giselle, this is neither the time nor the place," Felix growled, talking to the massive blade on his back. Turning to the others, he explained, "Thanks to my Smith Magic every weapon I forge gets whatever emotion I'm feeling at the time put inside of it. Giselle just happened to have been forged whenever I just got finished winning a battle. Therefore, she's bossy."

"Damn straight I'm bossy," Giselle stated, making her surprising presence known once more. "And, I can't wait for us to show these girls who is boss in the games. I need to slice through something!"

"Giselle, will you please?" Felix snarled back. His response from his sword was a flippant huff then slam against his back. Pale fingers ran through white-blonde hair, and Felix stated, "Forgive her. She's excited. Now, then, my sisters, shall we carry on to the lodging?" His large, calloused hand gestured to where a carriage drawn by twin black steeds was approaching.

Like most of the High Lancet Northerners, Felix lived on horseback. He refused to travel on anything other than a beast unless it couldn't be helped. Upon learning that the most famous guilds would be lodging in the mountains where he used to live, Felix had promptly set up arrangements to flaunt off his ancient clan's culture. Thus, the horse and buggy.

Hollis cracked a grin at the same time that he palmed his cigarettes. When all the women loaded up into the buggy, he made the assumption that he would be consuming a lot more of the cancer sticks during this Winter Games.

* * *

Excited was what Millianna might as well have renamed herself when their trip up to the lodges ended. They'd gone from a horse and buggy then to a lift that took them to the top of Mt. Glacia and finally they were at the lodges where they would all be staying, and boy, Millianna was sure where people came up with the Santa Claus myths when she stepped her feet down into three feet of white snow.

She'd never seen so much snow! Large icicles dripped from the steep pitches of lodge roofs. Windows glowed from firelight that danced within these wooden constructs. Millianna saw pine trees holding up massive weights of settled snowflakes.

The urge to leap upon the ground and create snow angels was too much to resist. Just like a kitten, Millianna tackled Kagura into a bed of winter. Their bodies were tangled up in frost before they rolled to the rest of the guild members.

"What the hell do you think you're—gack!" Kagura's voice was cut off when Millianna snagged Araña by the ankle to drag them with her. Beth was the next victim, and Risley didn't need any encouragement.

All of the girls latched onto each other as they rolled towards unwitting Felix and Hollis. The men had entered a state of serious conversation upon leaving the lift, and Millianna wasn't going to let it last.

Her claws stretched out to sink inside of Felix. The over six foot tall male was thrown backwards while his sword cried, "Wheeeee!"

They created a massive tangle of limbs and slight screaming until Hollis jerked his golden gaze back to them. "Oh, no. Oh, hell no!" he squawked. Even the phoenix on his arm lit up to reveal crimson flames burning against his skin. Before they could all trample him, his back lit up with fiery wings, and Hollis launched into the sky.

He watched with wide eyes as they group—even Felix—rolled towards the lodging. There were no brakes as Hollis watched the intertwined ball of body parts tumbling over each other. Legs were caught against arms. Hollis could have sworn that Risley was purposefully wrapping her suddenly shifted body tightly around Felix's waist, and Millianna was screaming with glee while they all tumbled down.

Cinder let out a hiss of aggravation on his back.

"No kidding," Hollis replied to his introverted avian ally. "We really aren't going to be able to keep them from drawing attention to themselves."

Even so, he watched them all roll to slam their backs against the front door of the lodge with Mermaid Heel's insignia hanging down. The banner would be taken off tonight to keep any of the mage hunters from knowing who was in what lodge, but it had been placed there for wayward guild members to find their lodging.

King Isaac's startled expression when Millianna waved at him from beneath the bodies atop her was photo worthy. "Good to see you all made it before nightfall," he slowly greeted, looking for Kagura amongst all the tangled bodies.

"We found them wandering around the town square. Lucky no one got snatched," Hollis pointed out. His crimson wings fanned out in wisps of flame behind him before leaving Hollis in his button up vest, short sleeved V-neck, and a pair of pinstriped dress pants. He'd dressed up to meet the women. Such a shame that he'd only arrived to find them wearing straps of leather.

Unlike Hollis's clean and straight lined appearance, King Isaac had apparently dressed down for the night. The king had taken his long trench coat off at the door to reveal a sweater that spanned the expansive width of his broad chest, and he was wearing dark jeans that had been broken in with a few tears. Hollis currently looked more regal than his king did.

Nodding his head, Isaac assisted Kagura up to her feet. From the loving way their fingers twined together to the way their eyes lingered on each other for a long enough moment to call it intimate, it was safe to say that Kagura Mikazuchi and Isaac Grigori von Kaiser were in love. Duly noted. Now Hollis had even more dirt on his king. Oh, how Hollis loved his leverage.

"It's good to see you're all safe," Isaac mentioned, talking to everyone but speaking to Kagura's eyes.

"I tried to keep everyone from wandering off, but Millianna got away. We were lucky your men could find her before a slaver could," Kagura replied.

For some strange reason their commander's voices and the boring topic of their conversation seemed more like two lovers exchanging dialogue after a hectic battle. Hollis was waiting for the two of them to leap into each other's arms and proclaim how the battle could never have been won without their cooperative strategy.

Walking straight through the love birds, Hollis asked, "Yo, where's Kat and Sven? Colin ain't here either."

Isaac looked to have difficulty tearing his eyes away from Kagura's when he replied, "Katja will be retrieving Sabertooth tonight. She's over them and Blue Pegasus. Sven went to watch over her as soon as she left, and Colin… I actually have no clue."

"Colin's right here, Captain too Busy Drooling over Kagura to Notice Anything Else," Colin pronounced, walking through the love birds the same as Hollis had. Instead of looking at anything, his grey eyes were too busy memorizing every inch of skin on a nude model in his _Play Spell_ magazine.

He stepped through before leaning his arm on Hollis's shoulder. Fire and Smoke shared a glance before Colin actually tucked his porno mag into his back pocket. Well, there was a first for everything. Colin never looked up from his reading material. "Greetings, those with feminine parts. My name is Colin Rydel. I'm the Gatekeeper of Lancet. Now, if you need me for anything, you can either buy me a drink or figure it out yourself. Adieu!" As soon as he turned on his heel to escape, Colin murmured, "You and Felix were right. They do come off as lesbians."

Instead of letting any more words pass between them, Hollis gave a confidant shrug. He'd met the Mermaid Heel girls before. Not a single one of these girls seemed like she was perfectly straight. Even though that wasn't a problem with Hollis because he wasn't looking to get laid during the Winter Games, it was always a problem with Colin. He loved the opposite sex for one reason—the sex. Actually started getting grumpy if he hadn't gotten laid in a few days. He was another person who Hollis was curious to see in love. He bet Colin turned into a lap dog.

As soon as Colin's body disappeared into a veil of smoke—likely going to visit one of his favorite clubs—Araña scoffed, "Nice guy. Must be a real charmer with the ladies."

Grinning, Hollis replied, "He's actually not that bad a guy. You'd probably understand why he's like that if you ever heard his story." Before anyone could ask just what Colin's story was, Hollis added, "So, are any of you interested in seeing what the Icere Lodges have to offer you all? We have until tomorrow morning for the games to begin, so we can do a quick tour."

A flash of what appeared to be guilt crossed both Kagura's and Isaac's faces. The two of them shared a glance that had Isaac reaching for his trench coat. Uh-huh. Hollis should have expected that much.

"It's been a while since the last time Kagura and I saw each other. I was hoping to take her to the top of Mt. Glacia," Isaac admitted, tossing her a glance with his purple eye.

The dark purple haired mage apparently agreed. She pulled her jacket closer around her body before taking a slow step backwards in her white boots. "Isaac's right. Also, we need to make sure that his eye is properly sealed so we don't get another incident like last time."

There was a slight shifting behind her back, likely Isaac taking her hand to lead her through the door. When the door opened to let in a gust of winter chill, the couple darted out before anyone could complain about their disappearance.

As soon as the door closed, Hollis and Millianna stated in unison, "They're leaving to go make out with each other." They shared a glance before glowering at each other.

"Well," Risley intoned, "I wouldn't mind a tour. I've heard a lot about this mountain range. There are a lot of amenities to be enjoyed."

"Hot springs!" Araña cried out. "I want to go to the hot springs!"

Felix cracked a grin then took his crimson cape off his body. The article that kept him warm was draped off a barstool before he revealed his leather armor. "Permit me to change, my sisters. Then, we can go to the hot springs."

When Felix left to go into the room he would share with Colin, Hollis realized he was alone with the rest of the Mermaid Heel women. He blinked in their general direction before Millianna hopped atop the pool table.

She had taken Hollis's jacket off, and was baring that skin once more. Even though Hollis understood what Felix meant about liking women who left something to the imagination, Millianna's attire was having the phoenix imagining all kinds of things about a girl wearing an outfit like that.

Cursing at himself, Hollis tried to get his head out of the gutter. He was a guy, one hundred percent, but he wasn't a hedonist like Colin. There should be no reason for him to be daydreaming about any woman—especially not when said woman was in danger. He needed to be alert and on call for anything that may decide to go bump in the night.

Hollis ran a hand through his spiky, crimson head of hair then flipped a barstool around. He straddled it before asking, "Do you ladies want to take this time to choose rooms and unpack? Felix won't be long, but you can at least pick a room."

"Great idea!" Millianna chirped. She dashed over to her suitcase. It was a typical case until one got a load of the giant Neo Neko on the front of it. Wasn't that a kid's show?

The cat had been styled after the Exceeds, and it was bright orange like a tabby. The suitcase even had a pair of cat ears sticking out on either side of it.

Hollis's feathers might as well have ruffled when Millianna bopped by. Just something about that woman got his wings up. Likely the fact that she was feline, and he was avian. She ate birds whereas he flew with them.

"Women's rooms are on the right side of the hall. Each room has an adjoining bathroom that leads to another room," Hollis explained, carefully watching Millianna.

She strolled right by Felix and Colin's room. Of course those guys didn't have their door closed. Felix was standing with only a pair of leather pants on, and Colin was leaned back on the bed with his _Play Spell _magazine laid out. As soon as the smoky eyed made caught sight of Millianna, he let loose a low whistle.

Giving him a roll of her eyes, Millianna barely even let her eyes linger on the massive, muscular frame of Felix before finding the door in front of Hollis and Sven's room. She opened it up. After checking everything out, she decided that it was fine for her tastes then dipped right inside.

Risley and Araña were next. Hollis would have assumed them to take a room together, but Risley found her way inside the room Katja would be staying in. Araña took the room across the hall from Isaac's bedroom. There were two rooming corridors in this lodge, but King Isaac had wanted everyone to be rather close to each other in case something did go wrong in the middle of the night. They even had an evacuation route planned in case Norman slavers and murderers got in the lodge. All the information was inside the pamphlet Hollis was currently thumbing through.

While everyone else was unpacking and getting changed, Hollis allowed Cinder to pull from his tattoo. The four foot tall bird perched herself on the counter top. When she wasn't on fire, she was a beautiful bird. Golden beak and eyes to match Hollis. Even her feathers matched Hollis's hair, but the similar colors stopped at the blue tail feathers that curled down the side of the wooden counter.

Cawing, Cinder demanded Hollis's attention, and he absentmindedly ran his fingers through Cinder's feathers. Bossy bird.

The two of them lazed about at the bar until Felix popped out from the hallway. He was still wearing his leather pants, but instead of wearing the rest of his armor, Felix had on a black button up with a dark collar folded around his brawny neck. Also, he still had on his boots. The man just couldn't go without some form of armor.

"Where's Giselle?" Hollis questioned, knowing the talkative blade would be on the master swordsman somewhere.

Tilting his head up, Hollis laid golden eyes on a silver sword dangling from Felix's earlobe. Yeah. Hollis knew it. The sword was forever with her master.

Felix pulled up a chair then straddled it the same as Hollis was doing. When Cinder cawed for him to pet her, the men traded hands. "I'm surprised you suggested a tour of the mountain range," Felix intoned.

"What can I say? The Lancet family did a number on my people skills. I'm actually social now," Hollis mentioned. He laid the emergency information pamphlet down on the counter then steadied a gaze on Felix. "Did Colin say anything about the man we'd captured?"

"Not a word. But, Isaac did let it slip that Katja would be taking part in the preliminary round tomorrow. It will be my turn to question the prisoner while you survey the city with the Magician's Alliance. Sven will be taking care of those partaking in the round, and Colin will be overseeing the arena."

Hollis nodded. "Looks like we all have our places, eh, brother?"

"Indeed," Felix agreed.

When feet padded inside of the living room, the guys looked up to their tourists. Thankful that Millianna was wearing a pair of leggings and an oversized shirt instead of her usual garb, Hollis rose up. Well, it appeared that the tour was about to begin.


	3. Ditched

**Well, I would apologize for the lack of being able to write, but you guys hear that stuff all the time. I'll save my breath. In other news, I hope to be doing a little more writing. While many of you that follow me already know I'm working on about eight different stories at the moment, you will probably understand that this story will be spruced up when its time comes.**

**As always, you guys are amazing. To see that people enjoy my stuff gets me all giddy and stupid acting. Thank you. I like that feeling.**

* * *

Ditched

"I bet ye schwon't do it," Araña slurred while leaning over the table. Her face was flushed, and a stupid smile had been plastered on her face ever since someone had brought out the Lancet moonshine. Oops.

What had started out as a simple tour through the mountain range had gone from innocent to fun in a few hours. While the girls had been at the hot springs, Felix and Hollis had been procuring different flavored whiskeys for everyone to try after their relaxing night out.

Once the gang had joined back up and someone had mentioned something about a karaoke bar, they'd immediately changed course from relaxing to entertaining. Currently, Araña was trying to get Hollis to sing karaoke with her.

"Ain't no way I'm singing _Girls Just Want to Have Fun_ with anybody," the red head explained after downing a long neck bottle of beer. He laid the bottle down then prepared to spin it.

This had been how they'd been picking partners for karaoke. Already, Risley and Millianna had sung _E. T_. by a Lancet singer by the name of Katy Perry. Felix had sang some Poets of the Fall song by his lonesome because his bottle spin had landed on himself. Araña had already gone and sung _Hips Don't Lie_. It was Hollis's turn, but Araña would not stop suggesting _Girls Just Want to Have Fun_.

Pulling back on the bottle, Hollis let it spin on the table. Eager eyes watched it spin around and around before finally landing. When it landed, Hollis locked eyes with Millianna. Great. He was going to have to sing with the Cat Lady.

"_Girls Just Want to Have Fun_!" Millianna proclaimed, nearly falling back in her barstool.

"How about no?" Hollis suggested. He took a shot of lemon drop moonshine then grabbed Millianna by the wrist. She was so drunk that he had to catch her from toppling over on top of him. Once he'd secured her with an arm around the waist, he explained, "We're singing _Creepin' up the Backstairs_ by the Fratellis." Shooting a look towards the man overseeing the karaoke machine, the guy gave him a thumbs up.

"_Creepin' up Backward on Stairs_ by the Frat Boys?" Millianna questioned, leaning harder on Hollis and wrapping her arms around him.

Yes, each of the girls had a drunken personality. Araña was a Woo Girl, very loud and very drunk. Risley was a sit there and giggle. Millianna? She was a flirty drunk.

In other words, the arms around his waist had been locked there and returning there all night long. Not that he was complaining of course.

Thankful that he wasn't getting so drunk that his own horny persona was up front, Hollis hauled Millianna up to the stage. Placing her on a bar stool, Hollis handed her a microphone. As soon as he got her sitting upright, she kicked her shoes off her feet.

In a matter of five drunken minutes Millianna had managed to lose her jacket, her winter clothes, and now her shoes. _Moonshine makes her clothes fall off,_ Hollis sang in the back of his mind before grabbing his own microphone.

Judging by the raucous crowd, Hollis could safely assume that everyone was far too drunk to be worried about Millianna's caterwauling. Hopefully, the siren that Hollis had tattooed on his body would help him out in draining Millianna's wailing. She couldn't sing. He could. It was a little known fact, one he would use to get the drunks back to the lodge.

When music started pumping out, Hollis summoned a little bit of his magic to have his siren wake up. The instant that his myth realized he was at a karaoke bar, she tugged on his vocal chords.

A voice that was far too deep was lifted, and his siren even got him dancing. Raising his hands over his head, Hollis began to clap. He bounced around on stage with his spiky, crimson hair tossing over his golden eyes.

The more into it he got, the more into it Aglaope, his siren, got into it. Her voice caressed his like the intimate touch of a lover. When gold eyes glittered under the stage lighting, Hollis realized everyone was putty in his hands. The magic was working.

One moment Hollis was hardly the best singer in the word, the next moment he had the entire bar listening in on him. Even Millianna shut up to listen to his rocking voice on the mic.

Cracking a playful grin, Hollis let his siren's call fill out in the bar. The girls were trashed but still hyper. If Hollis could put a hidden message in his song, he could get them back to the lodge without losing any of them.

_"__When you're creepin' up the backstairs  
Mother's nightmares  
Falling in the front door  
My my  
Climbing in the window  
Get dressed, let's go  
Take your brother's car keys  
Bye bye"_

Hollis sang while watching women swoon and men glower. Felix leaned back, fully knowing what Hollis was up to. Even though the music was upbeat and the song was rather sleazy, his spell was being woven.

Risley and Araña were leaned in, surprised by the one guy who could actually sing in here. Hollis even hammed it up for his audience. He leaped on top of a barstool to sing out.

_"__Don't just say yes to tease me  
Do your utmost to please me  
I don't mean to be sleazy  
Being you can't be easy"_

As he came up to the final chords on the song, Hollis had people dancing and drinking and reveling. His siren was gaining power with the hedonistic behavior of the people around him. When the song finally ended and his spell was woven, Hollis was stunned when drunken Millianna pounced on him.

She was wasted, face flushed, and clinging on him with those little claws of hers. Hollis scooped her right up from the stage when she nearly tripped down the stairs. He hauled her over his shoulder then held her down by the backs of her legs. "Whee!" she cried out, "What's next, Hollz?"

"Dove, you're going to be so thoroughly hung over tomorrow," Hollis pointed out. "We're going back to the lodge."

"No!" she wailed against his back. Legs flailed, and she beat against his back like it would do something. "I wanna ice skate and go hiking and drink more whiskey!" Like a child to a bottle, Millianna snagged a shot from their table. She took it like a champ even upside down.

Shaking his head, Hollis remembered just why he never went as the DD when drinking in large groups. Babysitting. Typically, Hollis was the drunk who didn't want to leave. He wasn't normally the Designated Dummy.

Hiking his wriggly drunk higher on his shoulder, he met up with giggling Risley and wooing Araña. Both girls were hanging on Felix's arms like he was some kind of Lancet god. All he did was give them polite smiles and nods of his head at their slurred flirting. They weren't just hitting on Felix. They were hitting on anything that moved. Men, women, cross dressers. No one was safe.

After collecting everyone in their group, Hollis could feel chilly air blowing in through the front door. Thankfully, Hollis had enough moonshine in his belly to keep him warmed. Given the way the girls were drunk dancing on their tottering legs, Hollis assumed they were doing right well.

Hollis shook his head at their antics then stepped through the door. Once outside, Hollis placed Millianna down. "Can you walk to the lodge?" he asked, holding her by the shoulders.

"Pleash, I can walks smiles around your slow ass," Millianna explained.

"Uh-huh," Hollis intoned, keeping one arm on his drunk while Felix took care of his two girls.

Risley and Araña were being rather compliant drunks. Millianna was a bit wilier.

As soon as the others walked off, the feline female tripped back up on her feet. When Hollis saw her skin go green, instinct told him to hold her hair. Sure enough, she retched all over the snow. Lovely.

"Oh, honey," Araña cooed, trying to walk towards Millianna but tottered on her own feet.

Letting out a sigh, Hollis stated, "Take them back, Felix. I can handle Millianna."

Felix answered him with a short nod. He took Risley and Araña away before they could get all girl pack mentality to take care of Millianna.

A hand soothingly ran down Millianna's back. He could feel the straps of her usual clothing underneath the fabric of her oversized shirt and merely grinned. He may get her covered, but she was going to dress how she wanted. Not like he could blame her.

She was a beautiful girl.

"Not spiffy," Millianna groaned, drooping her head down, and reminding Hollis that she was under his care. He had to take care of her not ogle her. Isaac would have his head if anything happened to the Mermaid Heel chicks.

"I told you to hold off on the vodka, but you went and drank it," Hollis pointed out, pretty much saying I-told-you-so. When she glowered, up at him, Hollis just shrugged. "It's better if you hack it up. Keeps you from getting alcohol poisoning. Think you're good to walk back?"

"S'not really." She leaned up closer to him as if for warm, and Hollis found himself pulling a mint out of his pocket. "That bad?"

"Yeah. That bad."

With a drunken smile, she popped the mint into her feline mouth. "Thanks."

"No problem, dove." He shrugged out of his jacket when she shivered and handed her the bomber jacket he'd thrown on her earlier today. The woman needed to dress for the cold if she was going to complain about it.

Even so, he wrapped one arm around her waist then led her down the trail Felix and the others had already disappeared down. The snow was falling heavily tonight. If Isaac really was planning for the preliminaries to be on the slopes, he had better make sure that they took care of the mountainside.

Katja was eager to tear up the slopes, but Hollis knew that she wouldn't get the chance if Isaac didn't check the weather.

Snowflakes settled in his scarlet hair, and Hollis caught a few of them on his eyelashes as he walked drunken Millianna through the snow. It wasn't until he heard sniffling that he looked down at her. Was she about to drunk cry on him?

"I'm hungry!" Millianna wailed.

Scarlet brows hiked high, and Hollis pulled away from the cat girl in his arms. She was going to drunk cry over food?

Women! He would never be able to understand them!

"We can get food when we get back to the lodge. We just have to get there first," Hollis explained. He took a step to keep them on the path. Millianna's teetering about was going to run him into a boulder were he not directing her like a dog on a leash.

Millianna chucked her shoes back off her feet to walk barefoot in the snow. "But, I want Isaac's cooking, and Izzy is with Kagura."

Picking her heels up, Hollis explained, "I'll cook whatever you want when we get back. The kitchen is stocked with everything you could ever want."

"But, you're not Isaac!"

"Praise the Phoenix I'm not," Hollis stated, rolling golden eyes at the stages of drunkenness he was about to have to deal with. "I'm a good cook though."

"Not as good as Isaac!"

"How the hell do you know?" And, there she went again. Getting his wings up. Little tufts of flames danced across his shoulder as Cinder sensed his change in emotion. The siren on him just giggled. Since he didn't currently have a contract with the Nemean Lion, Hollis had no idea what that male thought of him at the moment.

Probably thought he was being a tool. The lion came off as a little bit chauvinistic.

"I don't, but you can't be as good as Isaac," Millianna proclaimed. She tripped over a rock, hissing a curse when she stubbed her toe.

Hauling her right back on his shoulder, Hollis walked her down the trail. That tail of hers flicked this way and that in front of his face. He wanted to wrap it around her leg when it swatted him in the face. "You have no idea what I'm good at and what I'm not, girl."

"I want teriyaki salmon with zucchini on the side. Isaac always makes it best," she whimpered.

"Yes. Isaac. Forever Isaac. He is the saint, the great lord Isaac," Hollis grumbled. He took a turn in the thick snow before catching a scent downwind. Narrowing his eyes, Hollis knew exactly what Cinder was drawing to his attention. Normans.

Unlike mages who had the sharp scent of magic, Normans just smelt like a run of the mill human. Still, a run of the mill human wasn't the best thing for Hollis to run in with when he was a mage and the mage with him was drunken and bawling about salmon.

Hollis had gotten a bit of information regarding suspicious persons lingering in the forest. Perhaps, this was that group.

Go figure he'd catch wind of them when he was hauling a drunken feline on his shoulder.

When Millianna went back to caterwauling, he slapped a hand over her mouth. Her complaining was muffled against his palm, and he tried not to flash her a look of disgust when she actually licked him.

"Shut it, Millianna. We walked in on someone," Hollis mentioned, backing them both down the trail a touch. When he caught sight of shadows moving underneath lacrima powered lamps, he tucked her behind a tree.

Needles hid their faces from sight behind a pine tree, and Hollis let a low whisper pull from his lips. In a burst of crimson flames, Cinder was released from his tattoo. The ink that sealed her to him went from brilliant color to tribal ebony. With just a glance, Hollis sent his bird out to see what they might have found.

Seeing through Cinder's eyes and feeling the wind through her feathers, Hollis felt it when Cinder perched herself on a branch above a group of Normans. Her jade green eyes looked down. There were four Normans. Two women and two men.

"You almost got us caught, you idiot," one of the women hissed, slapping her hand against a man's stomach.

"It was the Heavy Metal Soldier! Did you really want to try and take _him_ down? His clan eats Normans!"

"Oh, yeah. Right, and his mother is really an ice giant."

"I haven't met a guy that was six foot six and wasn't considered a giant."

"You're a dumb ass. You know that?"

"And, you wanted to track one of the biggest threats to our lives. Yeah, I'm the idiot."

Hollis rolled his eyes. These were the big threats to his kingdom's racial equality? Four arguing Normans who couldn't even get along with each other never mind take down a mage. And, the way they hunted them. Damn. Mages weren't wild animals. They were people, too.

Sighing, Hollis adjusted to eavesdrop even deeper.

"Where's Lucas? He and Shayna were trailing the Crimson Phoenix and some cat chick."

Oh? Really? Interesting. Cinder hadn't smelt or heard anything.

Hollis shifted once more, but when he didn't feel Millianna's body weight move with him, he looked down. Then, he blinked. Where the hell did she go?

Leaping from his spot, Hollis was about to go charging after her until a net fell down on his body. Lips hissed a curse, and Hollis called Cinder back to him. The phoenix hastened back to him, but when she tried to light Hollis up in flames to free him, she couldn't place her spirit back inside of his tattoo. A magic net?

Gold eyes rolled, and when his net throwing assailants were about to cheer their victory, he tackled them. The one he assumed to be Lucas took a knee to the gut then a forearm to the throat. Just because Hollis didn't have magic didn't mean he couldn't fight.

"Millianna!" Hollis roared. He called her name out over and over again until a short yipping answered him. Had the others gotten her, or was it that Shayna girl? Either way, he was here, and Millianna wasn't with him. He needed to get to her.

Hollis attempted to find the bottom of the net but only succeeded in twisting himself in it further. Without Cinder attached to him, he couldn't grow his nails out to talons, and since he didn't have a contract with the Nemean Lion, Hollis couldn't use his claws. Looked like he was stuck with the siren Aglaope. Not a bad situation.

Summoning his magic, Hollis began to sing for his release. His words were lulling, but it was obvious they weren't working when the man beneath him revealed a set of ear plugs. Great. Freaking great. Death by earplugs. Go on ahead and put that on his headstone.

A quick decision to knock out the man underneath his knotted body kept Lucas from calling any other Normans, but it didn't get Hollis out of his net. Outside of it Cinder cawed and cried out. She wanted to rescue her master, knew her phoenix flames could destroy the net, but when she released a wave of flame to save him, the net didn't even get singed.

The two of them shared a look that read, "What the fuck?" before Cinder flew to find the bottom of Hollis's net. They were just about to get him freed until Millianna came bopping up the trail with a woman tied up in her magical bonds.

Scarlet brows raised, impressed, and Hollis muttered, "Well, ain't that just spiffy."

"Lookie what I found, Hollz!" the still drunk and still hyper woman greeted. Behind her, the woman tottered and teetered. Her body was being tossed around at Millianna's careless hauling, but Hollis couldn't keep from appreciating cat claw marks shredding across the female's skin. By the looks of things, the Norman idiots hadn't suspected a bondage obsessed kitten to be the one strolling through the woods with Hollis. Lucky Phoenix. Perhaps, Millianna was a touch more useful than Hollis suspected.

"Beautifully done, dove. How's about you slide over here and help Cindy with this net?"

"Na," Millianna giggled, making Hollis's entire face fall.

"Excuse me, dove. I don't think I heard you right." Hollis rubbed the outside of his ear and leaned forward. "Could you repeat yourself?"

"I'm not gonna let you go!" she cheered. Snatching her captive up, Millianna dashed off towards the lodges. "Bye, bye, Hollz!"

"Millianna! Millianna! You get your arse right back here before I light it on fire!"

"Bahahahaha!" was her eloquent response.

"Millianna!" Hollis yapped, lunging forward. The crisscrossing pattern of the net dug into the face as she snarled, "Millianna, get right back here right now!"

Too late. She had already faded into the falling snow.

* * *

"So, why didn't you stay at Castle Lance?" Kagura asked Isaac. It was just them. Firelight crackled in the nearby hearth, and all of the lights had been dimmed to the most romantic of shades. Kagura lazed on her front between Isaac's long legs, and the King of Lancet was running his fingers through her silken head of hair.

Only moments ago, Felix and the girls he'd been escorting had come to the lodge. The soldier had tossed the couple a hand of greeting before walking the girls down the hallway. After the couple had given them time to settle down and realized they were too drunk to do anything but sleep, Kagura and Isaac had cleaned up the kitchen.

They'd prepared a simple but romantic meal together, returning from the mountaintop after they were sure everyone was out of the lodge. Being a continent away kind of stifled most of the dating to cellphone calls via lacrima and the occasional hand written letter. Isaac would come to Fiore, but it was typically on business. Quality time was hard to come by when the guy you liked was half a world away. Somehow, the two of them were working through it.

After the dinner and a movie date they'd shared and the realization that no one was going to interrupt their alone time, the two of them had settled on the couch and just hadn't moved. It was a rare occurrence. The last time they'd spent a long amount of time with each other, the two of them found each other on opposite ends of the sword. He'd stilled her blade, and she'd stilled his possession. Well, after beating the living hell out of him first of course, but that was their romance.

It was nice to not have to be worrying about eminent doom and be able to relax with each other.

Isaac brought Kagura back to the forefront of her mind by stating, "This keeps me closer to you and the other guilds. I can watch over security best when I'm not locked away like some fairy tale princess in a castle."

Letting a slow smile crawl up her face at that comparison, Kagura teased, "And, we all know how much of a princess you are, Queen Isaac."

"Humph. If I'm a princess, doesn't that make you a prince? You are the one that wears the sword in the relationship," he countered. His hand slowly slipped from her head and to her chin. When he swept the smooth pad of his thumb across the reddened skin there, Kagura's face flushed.

Trying to keep her composure, Kagura's turned her head away. She felt like some coy lover in a Shakespearean play from the Pergrande kingdom. Shouldn't she be more comfortable with the guy she'd been with for a whole year and a half? Why, after all this time, did he still manage to give her butterflies, to make her nervous?

She wouldn't like to say that she was afraid to love, but after the situation with her brother and Erza, affection and attraction weren't things she was exactly comfortable with. Kagura had to be the tough act, the powerful one. She kept her spine straight and her sword blows straighter. How come some shadow wielding king made her turn into a spineless blob of gelatin dancing at the flick of his fingers?

Isaac curled his forefinger underneath her chin while he adjusted his body. Kagura could feel his muscles moving beneath her. His legs were toned from workouts she often took part in. His abs were hardened from working outdoors. When he bent a leg, caging her between himself and the back of the couch, her skin couldn't have gotten any hotter. What was he about to do?

She felt more on edge than she ever had in her entire life. This crazy man with a demon locked inside of his body somehow knew the ways to break down her walls. With a careful touch, a peck on the cheek, and sometimes when she bent over and he swatted her behind, Isaac knew just what to do to get her to respond.

"Kagura, going with this whole gender reversal thing, don't you think this situation is just a little bit good for you to finally kiss me?" he asked, pouting like some kind of deprived puppy dog. His purple eyes were glittering with mischief in the firelight, and the leg keeping her from escaping was suggesting something more than a brief kiss like their usual acts.

Rolling her eyes, Kagura belied the butterflies doing summersaults in her gut. Her hands laid down on the broad expanse of his chest, and she leaned her body forward. Isaac and Kagura had kissed. If you asked her, they were damned good at it, but this situation, the intimacy between them, it was almost too much to bare.

Would he ask for more? Did he want her in that primal fashion two lovers desired of each other? And, the more important question, was she ready to give him such a thing?

Gulping down the knot in her throat, Kagura made a determination. One and a half years had been a long time to wait. She was twenty-four years old now, and Isaac was the best thing that had happened to her in a long time.

Did he fill the void left when her entire family passed on? No, she would be lying if she said that he did. Even though he didn't feel that emptiness inside of her, he had given her something to cleave to: his loyalty. It was unyielding.

Isaac was a king. Many women threw themselves at him, and he'd been promised to Hisui at a young age. He had looks, wealth, power, and intelligence. He was the perfect creature if one was to look at material things. Even though women tossed themselves at his feet, some even hoping for a bastard that he would have to pay off down the road, Isaac hadn't taken anyone. He'd set his sights on Kagura, an average girl with a crummy past, and he hadn't taken them off her.

He was a sword for her to handle, the perfect weapon and ally. When he was around, Kagura didn't feel the need to sleep with her sword under her blankets. When he was around, she slept with him under her blankets.

Kagura's fingertips curled against his chest, and she bit down on the inside of her cheek. She was going to do this. She was going to do this, and she was going to enjoy it. Bracing herself, Kagura leaned forward.

Their lips were inches apart. She could feel his heartbeat beneath the hands fisted in the fabric of his sweater. He waited with a grinning mouth and a raised brow. When her eyes locked onto his lips, she couldn't keep her tongue from licking her bottom lip. He had the best pair of lips. They were full with just the slightest crease in the center. They were neither pale rose or vibrant red. They were a color all Isaac's own, and she was about to kiss them.

A giddy feeling ran from the tips of her toes to the top of her head when she wondered just where else his mouth was going to go tonight. Her face? Her throat? Her shoulders? What if he ventured lower?

Nerves, anxiety, and a bucket full of eagerness washed down on her. She leaned forward at the same time that he came to her. With just the first touch, the first taste, a door slammed against the lodging walls.

"You are such a bitch! I bet if I looked up the word in the dictionary, I would see your face grinning back at me!" a voice that sounded far too much like Hollis Flight screamed in through the doorway.

Isaac quickly grabbed onto Kagura's head. He forced her face flat against her chest then rolled off the couch. Both of their faces were brilliant scarlet even as he pressed a finger to her lips.

"Well, at least I know how to smile! You've been nothing but hateful to me since we got here! 'Her. Der. My name's Hollis, and I have a problem with girls who dress the way they want to.' I was happily drunk until you came and sobered me up. Thanks, Hollz. Thanks a lot for being such a massive douche. Actually, wait! I doubt that any woman would let you near them. You're not even a douche! You're a butt plug! One they use in gay porn!"

"A butt what? Hell, woman, it's not like I was the one who left someone out in the freezing snow with no help to get out a damned net! 'Hey, Millianna, help me out of this net,' I say. 'Na. Don't feel like,' was your genius response! I almost got taken in by those idiot Normans thanks to you!"

"All according to my plan. Thank you very much! I had it planned from the start. Thanks to my kitten senses, I knew we were being followed. My trap worked perfectly, and you don't even have the common sense of gratitude to thank me. I appreciate the thanks, you butt plug!"

"You infuriating, woman! I'm amazed that any bimbo such as yourself could even think of a plan to catch Normans."

"S'not hard when they're as dumb as the guy you hope will get your drunken self home for the night!"

"You make it sound like I came onto you!"

"By the way you've been staring, I would say that you have been!"

"Bimbo bitch!"

"Butt plug!"

A door slammed, and Kagura jerked with it. Her face was a mix of humor and horror as she stared towards Isaac. Should she be mad? Should she go console Millianna? When there was a sudden thud on the couch Kagura and Isaac had been lounging on, she figuring scrambling away from Isaac was her best option.

"Ah, hell! Can you two get it on somewhere else? There's bedrooms down the hall," Hollis snarled, slight flames leaking from his arms where his tattoo had been inked.

Kagura tried to gain her composure, but it was hard to do given the conversation still running through her head. Millianna had turned the most ignorant sounding term into an insult. That was funny.

When a smile fluttered at the corner of her lips, she was saved by Isaac. He grabbed her hand to lead her away. He scooped her up in his arms then snickered, "Well, at least things aren't going to be boring around here."

Hollis scowled as Kagura and Isaac dipped out into the darkness of the hallway. Ha. Ha. Ha. Yeah, laugh it up. It wasn't like they had been ditched by some drunken bimbo in the middle of BFL. Sheesh. Hollis had thought he'd been on his best behavior while taking care of the overgrown ten year old. She'd even held her hair back while she tossed cookies right beside his new shoes. A lot of girls didn't realize it, but even guys had a thing for looking good. Wearing another person's vomit was not a new fashion trend.

On his body Aglaope snickered. Her little teases could be heard while Cinder scowled alongside Hollis. At least someone was taking his side during this whole situation. The bird pulled from his tattoo to console him while he snatched the remote up from the coffee table Kagura and Isaac had been cuddling against.

By the looks of those two, Hollis assumed he was going to be the next to throw up around here. They weren't just shocked at being caught, they'd still been in lovey-dovey glitter eyes mode. There was no telling just what Hollis and Millianna had broken up with their screaming contest.

Grunting, Hollis flicked on the tv. The credits for a movie based off a popular comic book series were still on, and he changed from the credits to the internet connection. There were only so many things to do when you were so puffed up with irritation because of a member of the opposite sex. Watching action movies where lots of things exploded and drinking a beer was one of those things.

Thankfully, Cinder sensed his ire and flew off to retrieve the beer. She hustled back, popped the top with her beak, and set the liquid on the table. "You were always the only woman who ever understood me," Hollis mentioned to his bird. His hand stretched out to scratch Cinder under the beak. "Alright then, do you want to watch _Night of the Undead_ or _Angel of Death_?"

When Cinder let loose a sharp caw, Hollis snickered, "Yup. _Night of the Undead_ it is."


	4. Attention Please

Aloha, my beloved readers. It is with great pleasure I am going to announce that the novel I've been working on to get published has finished its first draft!

Of War and Stone will hopefully (fingers and toes crossed) be on store shelves in a year or so. Ha. Ha. Ha. Yeah, that's probably pushing it but whatever. Optimism has its place in the world. Hopefully, its place lies with my book.

But why and how does that effect all of y'all? Well, I'm getting to that. Don't get your undergarments in a twist!

It effects y'all because I should be back on the fan fiction website more often. Yay! Good news! Peoples love ze good news!

Sadly, with all good things come some rather shitty ones. So... I kind of forgot where I was at in most of my chapters. I'll be rereading chunks of the story and hopefully slapping my fingers onto the keyboard in my hiatus period of novel editing.

If all's well, you'll soon see some chapters up!

Don't freak out on me though. I know the endings of all my stories already. I just have to get the hamster in my brain to start running on his wheel.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Another note! I'm in an artist/writer competition, so I'll be balancing that with my fiction on here as well.

Hmm. Yeep. I think that's all the news y'all need to here. So... SORRYNOTSORRY about not being able to post much. O_o

Imma try to get back in me jig!


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